Brick Update

I visited a small independently owned toy store today and found the new LEGO Hobbit lineup of sets on the shelves:

In the past couple of weeks, I picked up some nice deals at Toys R Us. Through various discounts, I ended up with the Desert Skiff set 9496 and Star Wars Cloud City Planet set at maybe 20% off each, plus the Darth Maul Polybag thrown in for free.

I finally grabbed a couple of the Friends set: Olivia’s Tree House 3065 for about $16.75 each after taxes. Not a huge discount, but I have been eyeing this set for awhile:

This year the LEGO Store didn’t surprise us with any amazing discounts. Last year, we got some nice deals on retiring sets such as Emerald Night, Imperial Flagship, and the Republic Dropship. This year:

• Some minor discounts on a variety of sets.
• 10% off your purchase.
• A free holiday set.

I’m definitely not complaining, this is all a welcome sentiment from LEGO. I picked up two of the mini-modular set 10230, which I had been holding out on. I grabbed the 2012 Star Wars advent calendar for $25, as well as the little desk calendar for $12. They didn’t have the business card holder even listed on their site – that is a set I was hoping to pick up multiples of.

The 2012 holiday set 3300014 seems really nice, you get 4 minifigs, a horse, and a nice little scene. I’m hoping they sell these off individually just after Christmas, but I won’t hold my breath for that.

So I skipped going to ANY stores on Black Friday, but stopped by Target later in the weekend. They still had a bunch of their LEGO Black Friday deal, the Pirate of the Caribbean Black Pearl for $75. This side of the endcap had three rows, maybe 3 or 4 deep:

Plus more on the other side of the endcap:

I found the Batmobile polybags in the holiday section:

Otherwise, not much activity here at Target:

A few Ninjago markdowns:

Just a peak at the LEGO available at Toys R Us the day before Thanksgiving:

I took a trip out to the “big” Toys R Us in my area. Here is what the shelves look like before the Black Friday rush:

The calm before the storm… a look at the LEGO shelves at Wal-Mart just a couple weeks before Black Friday, and the toy buying season begins in earnest. The only notable item was the Millennium Falcon for $100, but of course, the only one left was crushed and fully opened.

In LEGO forums, there is always a lot of discussion as to how Toys R Us regularly prices their LEGO higher than other stores and higher than MSRP. I have noticed that leading up to the holidays, the keep increasing prices more and more. I forget the exact numbers, but you would see something like for a $20 MSRP set:

• Jan – June $24.99
• Sept $29.99
• Oct $34.99
• Nov – Dec $37.99

I remember this with the Harry Potter Quidditch Match set.

I took a trip to Toys R Us yesterday, and saw they had a “sale” on several sets that basically brought them back down to the normal normal MSRP prices that you find at every other store. It’s a strange psychology behind it. It “seems” like a deal if they raise prices high enough.

Anyhow, here are photos from my trip yesterday:

Save $30! Well, not really, that just brings Jabba’s Palace back down to the price you can buy it everywhere else:

Same with The Malevolence:

The LEGO aisle:

Taking $20 off brings Palpatine’s Arrest down to regular MSRP too:

“Saving” $10 on the Quinjet Aerial Battle still leaves it $5 more than anywhere else you can buy it:

Surprisingly, Ghost Train actually is a deal at this price. Normal MSRP is $79.99.

Mines of Moria is down to regular MSRP once you take $20 off:

Otherwise, here are some other interesting things I saw in my trip, including this Ninjago Sticker Puzzle:

The LEGO Hobbit notebook:

Power Functions:

Still plenty of Lloyd ZX minifigs in stock:

Ninjago training set:

Still plenty of retired themes, including Harry Potter, red box Ninjago, Pirates of the Caribbean:

Well, I finished the Haunted House, Monster Fighters set #10228 just in time for Halloween. Overall, I am VERY impressed with this set, and can’t imagine why they haven’t don’t sets like this in the past. I can easily see them having a high-end set like this for Friends, and lots of other themes. I know they have a big Arkham Asylum set coming up in 2013 that is closer to this price range too.

I know this isn’t part of the modular series, but to my eyes, it fits right in. I’ll be displaying them all together:

I love how it opens up to the full interior. I prefer this for playability compared to the modulars, which I find awkward for any kind of interactivity:

The back:

The minifigs are pretty cool:

The front fence:

Welcome…

The full set.

Overall, this is one of my new favorite sets!

There was a full peg or two of Ninjago Lloyd ZX figures at my local Toys R Us yesterday, indicating that production has finally met with with demand. Here’s a look at what else I found: